Trivia

Gave birth to her daughter Marylyn two months premature on her yacht in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both mother and daughter almost lost their lives.

After shooting Little Women (1949), Astor decided against renewing her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as she had grown tired of playing humdrum mothers.

Thanked both Bette Davis and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in her acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1941 for The Great Lie (1941).

Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1951 following a suicide attempt.

In 1959, she penned her frank autobiography, "My Story", which was a bestseller, a tell-all in which she openly discussed her battle with alcohol and her failed marriages, but, interestingly, avoided the subject of her film career. In 1971, she also wrote five novels and came out with a memoir, "A Life on Film", in which she DID discuss her film career. This was also a bestseller.

Having suffered from alcoholism for 20 years, Astor finally checked into a sanitarium for alcoholics in 1949.

Lived with her son Tono in Fountain Valley, California after filming Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) until 1971 when she moved to a small cottage on the grounds of the Motion Picture and Television Country House in Woodland Hills due to her chronic heart condition.

Lived with her close friend Florence Eldridge and her husband Fredric March following the sudden death of her husband Kenneth Hawks.

Bette Davis was originally cast as Sandra Kovak, the hot-tempered but talented pianist, in The Great Lie (1941) but instead opted for the smaller role of Maggie Van Allen in a bid to let her good friend Astor save her film career. As a result, Astor won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

Although Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) will show as Miss Astor's final film on a chronological list of her work, Youngblood Hawke (1964) was actually the last film she worked on. "Hawke" was released on November 4, 1964, before "Charlotte"; which was released about 7 weeks later, on December 24.

According to "Reel Facts: The Movie Book of Records", Astor earned $500 per week in the early 1920s at Famous Players and rose to $3750 per week at 20th Century Fox during the 40 week 1928-1929 season.

Was almost fired from Dodsworth (1936) following the revelation of her affair with George S. Kaufman, but Samuel Goldwyn insisted she remain in the picture.

Her son Anthony was born five weeks premature.

Her nickname "Rusty" came from her dark auburn hair. One fan magazine described her hair color as "Titian, which photographs black, and her eyes are very dark".

She has appeared in six films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Red Dust (1932), Dodsworth (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Midnight (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).

Her father Otto died in February 1943 of a heart attack and her mother Helen died in January 1947 of a heart ailment.

Attended and graduated from Kenwood-Loring School in Chicago, Illinois.

Had two children: daughter Marylyn Hauoli Thorpe (Marilyn Thorpe; b. June 15, 1932) with ex-husband Dr. Franklyn Thorpe, and son Anthony Paul Del Campo (June 5, 1939 - May 26, 2014) with ex-husband Manuel Del Campo.

Acording to an August 1924 Topeka Capital article, Mary Astor (Lucille Langhanke) grew up and attended school in Topeka. Her father was a window dresser at the Crosby Brothers store.

WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star on 1926.

Sister-in-law of Howard Hawks and William B. Hawks, cousin-in-law of Carole Lombard.

Had appeared with Henry O'Neill in five films: The Kennel Murder Case (1933), The World Changes (1933), The Man with Two Faces (1934), Upperworld (1934) and Dinky (1935).

Following her death, she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Was the 17th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie (1941) at The 14th Academy Awards on February 26, 1942.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 38-40. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

On August 26, 2019, she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

In her book "A Life on Film," Mary Astor recalled that by the time the film Young Ideas (1943) came along, she was beginning to be disturbed about the direction her career was taking, having signed a term contract with MGM. She was pushed into a long line of what she called "Mothers for Metro", and when informed that in this film, she would be playing Susan Peters' mother, she thought, "Swell; what do I do as Susan Peters mother: change her diaper or console her because she wasn't asked to the prom?".

Became pregnant by her 1st husband Kenneth Hawks in July 1928, but she underwent an abortion.

She was a staunch liberal Democrat who was active in the women's chapter of the Hollywood Democratic Committee as well as the campaigns of such liberal presidents as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter.

Grandmother to Frances (b. March 11, 1951), Clare (b. July 16, 1955), Gabrielle (b. October 15, 1957) and John (b. November 28, 1961) via daughter Marylyn and her husband, Frank Roh.

Wrote her autobiography 'My Story'.

In March 2014, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.

She died only seven days before her The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) co-star Madeleine Carroll.

Grandmother to Krystin (b. August 29, 1970) and Michael (b. December 11, 1974) via son Tono and his wife, Patrica Leuty.

Is one of 6 actresses to have won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a character who is pregnant at some point during the film, hers being for The Great Lie (1941). The others are Kim Hunter for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard (1980), Brenda Fricker for My Left Foot (1989), Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005), and Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006).

Mary Astor was twice the screen mother of Judy Garland ("Listen. darling" and "Meet me in St. Louis"), Margaret O'Brien ("Meet me in St. Louis" and "Little women"), and Elizabeth Taylor ("Cynthia" and "Little women").